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On October 25th, local time, the second round of ceasefire talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan began in Istanbul, Turkey. The talks were hosted by Turkey and held at an Istanbul hotel. The Pakistani delegation included the militarys director of operations and security and intelligence officials. The Afghan delegation was led by Deputy Interior Minister Rahmatullah Najeeb.On October 25th, Belgorod Oblast Governor Ilya Gladkov announced that Ukrainian armed forces had damaged the Belgorod Reservoir Dam. He stated that Ukrainian forces might attempt to attack and destroy the dam again. If this were to happen, several streets in riverbanks and settlements near Kharkiv Oblast would be flooded, impacting the lives of approximately 1,000 residents. Gladkov stated that local authorities have advised residents at risk of flooding to move to temporary relocation sites. The Ukrainian side has not yet responded to this request.On October 25th, Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Villeroy warned lawmakers debating the 2026 budget that the deficit must not exceed 4.8% of economic output to ensure France can cope with its growing debt burden. The French National Assembly is currently debating a draft budget that targets 4.7% GDP growth, but Prime Minister Jean-Claude Le Cornu has said the ultimate target should be within 5%, and he is seeking a compromise with opposition lawmakers. "It is absolutely necessary to keep the deficit below 3% between now and 2029, which would imply a maximum deficit of 4.8% next year," Villeroy de Villeroy said in an interview with La Croix. He also stated that France faces the risk of "progressive suffocation" from debt and that additional deficit spending will fail to stimulate economic growth. According to calculations by the Bank of France, if debt uncertainty is reduced, a 1% reduction in the household savings rate would boost economic growth by 0.4%. However, Villeroy de Villeroy stated that the French economy has strong momentum this year and growth will be "at least" as strong as the Banks forecast of 0.7%.On October 25th, the U.S. federal government shutdown entered its 24th day. More and more federal employees forced to take unpaid leave are facing the dilemma of not being able to pay their bills or mortgages, and many are forced to queue up at food banks for assistance. Jacobs, president of the local CDC union, stated that both parties are using the livelihoods of federal employees as bargaining chips in political negotiations, and that the current chaotic situation is unprecedented.On October 25, Lizhong Group responded to investors on an interactive platform, saying that the second phase of the companys project to produce 3.6 million ultra-lightweight aluminum alloy wheels annually in Mexico, with an output of 1.8 million wheels, has now been put into initial production. The company is actively promoting the running-in of the production line and the release of production capacity, striving to achieve the goal of full production and sales as soon as possible.

Oil Prices Continue to Rise Due to Soaring US Fuel Demand and Russia's Saber-Rattling

Charlie Brooks

Apr 14, 2022 09:31

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Brent oil futures closed up $4.14, or 4%, at $108.78 a barrel, adding to Tuesday's rise of 6.3 percent.


The New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, crude oil benchmark in the United States concluded the day up $3.65, or 3.6 percent, at $104.25. It increased by 6.7 percent in the previous session.


Crude prices continued their rally on Tuesday as China relaxed some of its most strict Covid shutdown measures in two weeks, raising prospects for an increase in energy demand in the world's second largest oil user.


Oil was also aided in the previous session by the OPEC+ alliance's warning that its non-Russian members cannot — or would not — compensate for Russian output lost as a consequence of Western sanctions.


Wednesday's gain was fueled by increased gasoline use in the United States, as shown by weekly energy inventory data issued by the Energy Information Administration, or EIA.


Apart from the increase in gasoline and diesel prices for automobiles and trucks, Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) also cited customer acceptance of higher tickets as a way to offset expenses, implying that demand for jet fuel would increase as well.


New geopolitical concerns arising from the Russia-Ukraine dispute boosted the market's upside, with Moscow threatening that any assault on its territory would be met by attacks on locations where such decisions were taken, including Kyiv.


"Oil prices seem to be extremely comfortable above the $100 barrier, since US and Chinese demand appears to be improving," said Ed Moya, an analyst at online trading platform OANDA.


According to the EIA, gasoline stockpiles, America's most utilized petroleum commodity, are low. The week ending April 8 had a 3.65 million barrel reduction, compared to a 2.04 million barrel fall the prior week ending April 1. Last week, analysts surveyed by Investing.com expected a dip of only 388,000 barrels.


Stockpiles of distillates, which are converted into diesel for trucks, buses, trains, and ships, as well as jet fuel, decreased 2.9 million barrels last week, compared to a rise of 771,000 barrels the week before. Analysts had anticipated a weekly fall of 515,00 barrels.


The fall in gasoline products mitigated any gloomy emotion generated by the largest weekly rise in US oil stocks in more than a year as a result of massive withdrawals from the country's emergency reserves.


Last week, crude stocks increased by 9.4 million barrels, compared to 2.4 million the prior week. According to the EIA's historical data, it was the largest weekly increase in oil stocks since the week of March 5, 2021.


The construction occurred in the context of a weekly release of at least 3.0 million barrels from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, approved by the Biden administration to address a supply shortage exacerbated by the West's sanctions against Russia. According to EIA statistics, the US imported no crude oil from Russia for the second consecutive week.


Analysts surveyed by US news organizations had forecast an average build of 2.4 million barrels for the week ending April 8.


"Oil inventories were the greatest surprise, climbing much over estimates" despite the SPR releases, ForexLive analyst Greg Michalowski said.


In November, President Joe Biden started tapping the SPR to supply US refiners with oil lent from the reserve that they would not have to pay for but would have to return within a certain time period. The president believed that by doing so, there would be fewer oil transactions on the open market, resulting in lower prices for crude and refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel.


Previously, the Biden administration authorized the release of 30 million barrels from the SPR in March and another 50 million barrels in November, in collaboration with other oil-consuming nations such as China, Japan, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.


However, the administration's largest SPR release will occur in May, when it will issue 180 million barrels from the reserve. Another 60 million barrels are expected from additional International Energy Agency member nations' reserves.


However, the government's measures have had little impact on energy prices so far, with a barrel of oil maintaining above $100 a barrel and a gallon of gasoline hovering around $4, not far from March's record highs around $4.30. This is because refiners have been producing more petroleum products than typical at this time of year, resulting in unusually high consumption.

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